A bill to create a legal marijuana marketplace in New Jersey is "98 percent" done, with a dispute over tax rates the only major sticking point, one of the state's leading legal marijuana advocates said.
Scott Rudder, who heads the New Jersey CannaBusiness Association, a trade group of aspiring marijuana growers, cultivators, retailers and related businesses, said the major holdup is whether to impose a 25 percent tax on retail marijuana sales right away, or start with a lower tax rate that escalates to that level over several years.
Speaking at a conference sponsored by the business newspaper and website NJBIZ, Rudder said he remains optimistic that lawmakers will soon hammer out a deal to make New Jersey the ninth state to allow adults 21 and over to use marijuana for any reason.
“I’m very, very, very confident," Rudder told more than 100 people at a hotel in Somerset. "We have worked out 98 percent of the issues.”
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